Work

Empowering Adolescent Boys – Peer Education and Road Safety in Rural Maharashtra

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Road accidents are a leading cause of death, morbidity, and economic burden among young individuals. This study aims to evaluate how effective a peer education program is in improving road safety knowledge, attitudes and practices among adolescent boys aged 16-19 from two villages. In Village "A," 110 boys completed a baseline survey, and 10 were chosen as peer educators to provide the intervention. Village "B" served as the control group, receiving traditional road safety education. After 6 months, all participants took a post-test survey. The intervention group showed a significant increase in road safety knowledge compared to the control group (P < 0.0001), but there was no significant difference in attitudes (P = 0.34) or practices (P = 0.72). The study indicates that peer education can effectively enhance road safety knowledge, but further research is needed to see if it leads to lasting behavioural changes.

Source: Indian Journal of Public Health

DOI: 10.4103/ijph.ijph_250_24

Authors: Shwetangi Ravindra Shinde, Sagar Arvind Padhye, Nived G. Sudarson, Sujata R. Lavangare, Vijaykumar S. Singh

Institutions: King Edward Memorial Hospital and Seth G.S. Medical College, Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital and Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College

Language: English

Topic: Traffic and Road Safety

Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Quality education, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $48